Henrietta Lacks And The Hot Zone
In The Hot Zone by Richard Preston and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, both authors suggest that globalization is both powerful and dangerous, so dangerous that it can sometimes cause irreplaceable damage, but can also do good things. The Hot Zone shows that Ebola can spread worldwide and have devastating effects. Preston states that if Ebola manages to spread beyond central Africa, then it will be all over the world, from New York to Paris, but “we never knew it.”(99) If Ebola spreads worldwide, there would be a global epidemic. However, it did not, and very few people knew its dangers. Also, the World Health Organization and the Centers of Disease Control have sent people like Gene Johnson and Joe McCormick to
Africa to fight Ebola. This shows that people all around the world are coming together to fight ebola. These examples show that globalization could have dangerously spread Ebola all around the world, and that globalization can also bring people together.
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot shows how HeLa cells have been spread all around the world. Skloot talks about how Tuskegee started producing about 6 trillion HeLa cells a week, helping scientists do research. HeLa cells went from a few cells from one woman to a worldwide industry within a few years. Additionally, Lawrence Lacks, son of Henrietta, emotionally says, “Her cells are growing as big as the world, covering around the whole earth.”(161) Lawrence is glad that his mother’s cells are helping innovate science, but also angry that the family have not been compensated, and that they didn’t know about the cells until 20 years later. This kind of burden can be too much to bear for some people. HeLa cells have both helped scientists work towards finding a cure for cancer, but also caused much pain in the Lacks family. In conclusion, both The Hot Zone and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks show the devastating effects globalization can have, as well as the positive effects of it.
Africa to fight Ebola. This shows that people all around the world are coming together to fight ebola. These examples show that globalization could have dangerously spread Ebola all around the world, and that globalization can also bring people together.
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot shows how HeLa cells have been spread all around the world. Skloot talks about how Tuskegee started producing about 6 trillion HeLa cells a week, helping scientists do research. HeLa cells went from a few cells from one woman to a worldwide industry within a few years. Additionally, Lawrence Lacks, son of Henrietta, emotionally says, “Her cells are growing as big as the world, covering around the whole earth.”(161) Lawrence is glad that his mother’s cells are helping innovate science, but also angry that the family have not been compensated, and that they didn’t know about the cells until 20 years later. This kind of burden can be too much to bear for some people. HeLa cells have both helped scientists work towards finding a cure for cancer, but also caused much pain in the Lacks family. In conclusion, both The Hot Zone and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks show the devastating effects globalization can have, as well as the positive effects of it.